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While plenty of artists have drawn from epic fantasy, rarely any have truly lived the enchanted way of life. Certainly, they may decorate their album covers with creatures, goblins, manacled maidens and brawny barbarians, but has an artist ever have to find a lost unicorn horn from a wintry landscape in the depths of winter? Did a guitarist devoted hours peering in the back of a road transport, repairing their own chainmail?

Immersed in the Legend

Established in 2019, New York’s Castle Rat have encountered such situations and additional ones as they embody their heroic dreams. From heraldic, earworm-heavy anthems to breathtaking performances, attire styling, music videos and cover artwork, they’re more than a metal band as a full immersive experience.

“It wasn’t planned to be a costumed concept band,” says singer, guitar player, sword-carrier and visionary Riley Pinkerton as the band’s tour van travels from a full-capacity concert in a German city to another in another town – they are playing multiple performances in the UK this week. “After a couple of performances and were scheduled on a Halloween gig, where I chose at the final moment to dress up. It was all completely self-made, but we had so much fun and the atmosphere was electric. I thought, ‘Imagine if we could have this much fun always?’”

The Band’s Evolution

Since then, the group – which showcases Pinkerton as the “Rodent Monarch” alongside a plague doctor (bassist), haughty vampire (guitarist) and enigmatic nature priest (drummer) – continued forward. The Bestiary, the follow-up record, brings to mind of classic metal icons collaborating to struggle onward through a Frank Frazetta fantasy world – a heroic opus that positions them on the edge of far grander things.

The Bestiary was a new experience for Pinkerton in that she welcomed contributions to her collaborators. “That contributed to a much better album,” she says of the collaborative process. “It was challenging at first – I’d always felt a certain amount of satisfaction as a female in music going it alone. I’ve had multiple instances where I finished performing and a person will say, ‘The band create awesome guitar parts!’ and I’m like, ‘Hey – I created all that.’”

Artistic Expression and Vision

As the band’s stature has grown, so has the scale of their visual elements. “The saying I live by is always that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” Pinkerton chuckles. Initially, she was on track for a art school education before pulling back at the prospect of heavy loans. “The fun thing about Castle Rat is there’s so many different ways to apply creativity,” she says. “Be it making masks, costume design, figuring out video editing clips … it’s all stuff I am unfamiliar with, but it’s enjoyable to learn in the moment.”

As if building the band’s intricate lore (“People are encouraging me to write it down because everything is stored,” Riley says, tapping her head) and sewing costumes were insufficient, the vocalist learned on her own how to make chainmail – no mean feat, though she confessedly entrusted her all-new reptilian-inspired outfit to a expert from NYC. “It feels like actual armour,” she smiles proudly.

Crowd Engagement and Difficulties

Regarding the fans? They took to the stage blood, toy blades and handmade props with equal enthusiasm as the group. “We had a show in Detroit and it looked like a medieval event,” remembers Riley happily. “The whole crowd was in robes, animal hides, metal wear.”

This isn’t to say, nevertheless, that traveling lifestyle as mythical wanderers has been plain sailing. “Each item is frequently damaged and ends up fixed temporarily,” Riley says. “Additionally I’ll have countless concepts as to how I desire the presentation, but we’re traveling in a van with restricted capacity. It’s an interesting challenge to make it feel like a grand epic, then store it into nothing.”

There have been additional practical issues that didn’t affect fictional warriors. “We experienced an ‘disastrous’ moment when we appeared at a Portuguese festival in Portugal and my suitcase – which had my sword in it – got lost,” says Riley. “This became a terrible situation, because there’s not an different option of the performance where I lack a weapon.”

Upcoming Plans

Like a true warrior queen, Riley is gung-ho about the what’s next. “My goal is to the top – I dream of stadiums,” she says. “The only thing that’s truly essential to me is keeping the self-crafted look, ensuring each detail is handmade. That’s an element I want to stay authentic to, whatever we achieve. Oh, and I want to ride out on a unicorn every night. You know how legends use vehicles in concerts? That, but on a mythical creature.”